Innholdsfortegnelse for Monday, March 27, 2023 i India Today

It added up to more than Pakistan’s cyclical political crises. Scenes of utter chaos played out on the streets of Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and especially Lahore’s Zaman Park neighbourhood—home to Imran Khan, former prime minister, charismatic ex-cricket captain and present insurrectionist-in-chief. The federal government, headed by Khan’s archrival Shehbaz Sharif, even sent in elite Rangers to arrest him on criminal charges. Such volcanic disruptions are not new for Pakistan. They are symptomatic of the fundamental political dichotomy at the core of this flawed democracy: an army that holds the real power versus a series of popular leaders who rule with their indulgence. Inevitably, when they aspire for real power, they get burnt. But with the economy in dire straits—and the possibility of it tanking the way Sri Lanka’s did last…

↘ 60 Indian start-ups in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) sector backed by accelerator Y Combinator held deposits over $250,000 (around Rs 2 crore) each stuck in SVB, according to media reports ↘ Nazara Technologies, a publicly-listed gaming firm, has said that two of its subsidiaries have $7.75 million (Rs 64 crore) stuck in SVB ↘ SVB has invested in about 21 Indian start-ups, including the likes of One97 Communications (which runs PayTM), Shaadi, Naaptol. ↘ The Centre is trying to gauge the impact the crisis would have on Indian start-ups. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for IT, met Indian start-ups via video conference and asked them to explore the Indian banking system and make it part of their business model ↘ Both US and Indian banks would now become more cautious…

First, the much-promised elections to the Congress Working Committee never materialised. Then came Rahul Gandhi’s speeches in the UK alleging that Indian democracy was under threat, handing the prime minister and his party the excuse to play victim. Many a Congress leader thinks the party is ceding the narrative. Like when ‘Naatu Naatu’, the song from the film RRR, won an Oscar, and the party tweeted an image of the actors photoshopped with the faces of the PM and industrialist Gautam Adani. That very day Congress Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa exhorted Congress workers to “finish” Modi to get rid of Adani. Making the most of it, the BJP is crying foul and demanding an apology while the Congress seems on the back foot.…

As several leaders of the Opposition parties across the country get grilled by the central agencies, a new acronym has come into existence—ICED. Used to define what they call harassment by BJP-led Union government, the I in the acronym stands for the Income Tax Department, C for the CBI and the last two letters for the Enforcement Directorate. The list of leaders who have been ICED is getting long. From Lalu Yadav in Bihar to K. Chandrashekar Rao in Telangana to Uddhav Thackeray in Maharashtra to Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi, all have felt cornered because of central agencies probing or arresting their party leaders.…

The moment the Islamabad High Court restored Imran Khan’s arrest warrants on March 13—they had been suspended earlier on his appeal—the Islamabad police hopped onto a helicopter to Lahore to go and arrest him. But they couldn’t. The former prime minister was leading an ‘election rally’ in Lahore while sitting in a bulletproof car and the crowds around him never allowed the police to approach him. After the rally, Khan simply turned around and went back to his home in Lahore. An even more farcical stand-off occurred the next day as the police attempted to arrest Khan from his Zaman Park house. Hundreds of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers and supporters beat back police and paramilitary contingents with sticks, stones and Molotov cocktails, blocked roads in Lahore and elsewhere in…

THREE DAYS BEFORE he turned 80 on February 27, B.S. Yediyurappa bid adieu to the Karnataka legislative assembly, thereby drawing the curtains on a 40-year career as a legislator. It was an emotional moment for the man who was once the BJP’s lone MLA in the state and who, 15 years ago, led the party to its first government in Karnataka. He was again at the helm in 2019 when the BJP seized power for a second term. Over the past year, the former chief minister has signalled that he won’t be fighting another assembly election, but he was clear that he wasn’t hanging up his boots yet—there was, as Yediyurappa pointed out in his farewell address, unfinished business at hand. The task that Yediyurappa has set for himself is…

↘ Azamabad Industrial Area (Termination and Regulation of Leases) Amendment Bill, 2022 ↘ Telangana Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 ↘ Telangana Public Employment (Regulation of Superannuation Age) (Amendment) Bill, 2022 ↘ University of Forestry Telangana Bill, 2022 ↘ Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill, 2022 ↘ Telangana Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 ↘ Telangana State Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, 2022 ↘ Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (Amendment) Bill, 2023 ↘ Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2023 ↘ Telangana Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2023…

If design delights you, 47-A in Mumbai’s iconic Khotachiwadi is probably already on your radar. The space was founded by designer-curator Srila Chatterjee’s Baro Market and C&L Design from the art gallery Chatterjee & Lal, and has had some very interesting shows in its first year of operation. The latest, titled Clothes That Changed the World, has been curated by architect Ratan J. Batliboi and features clothes by legendary Japanese designer Issey Miyake, whose construction can almost be called architectural. The show delves into one woman’s odyssey with Issey. The late Mina Krishnan, a businesswoman, was enchanted by the freedom that the label represented and collected a number of Miyake pieces over three decades. After her demise last year (coincidentally the same year that Miyake passed away), her husband and…

Q. How does it feel to be back as a cricket presenter? It feels like home. I gave 15 years to cricket and, after a break, I’ve come back on a show that is a bit different, as it marries our love for reality shows with our craze for cricket. I am so happy to be a part of it. Q. What are your thoughts on women playing cricket? The fact that the WPL is on as we speak is a huge step for women’s cricket. When I started my journey around two decades ago, women’s cricket wasn’t getting its due. There were these wonderful women cricketers, but they never had the money—not until the merger with the BCCI. With WPL, women’s cricket has arrived in India. Only a matter of…

The BJP’s impressive showing in the recent assembly elections in the Northeast—and the show of support by the Christian majority there—has raised the hopes of the party’s Kerala unit. The state is an outlier, resisting the wiles of the saffron party, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi admitted on his visit on March 2 that breaching the gates was top priority. “It happened in the North-east and Goa, and it will happen in Kerala too. The BJP will come to power here and become a real alternative for the people of Kerala. For years, the minorities have been threatened [by other political parties] invoking our name. But after Goa and now the Northeast states, the Christian brothers are with the BJP. The people of Kerala have realised the duplicity of the…

It’s open season in Rajasthan. With assembly polls due in December, the political mercury in the state has shot up with allegations and counter-allegations flying thick and fast between two of the state’s top leaders. Early this month, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Lok Sabha MP from Jodhpur and Union minister for jal shakti, filed a criminal defamation suit against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for character assassination by calling him and his family scam-accused. The case, filed at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court, is the latest in the salvos—fired through words, police and court cases—between the two leaders from rival parties. And it is not only a fight for dominance over their home turf—Jodhpur—but also for the state. The fact that Shekhawat has been the most vocal BJP leader against Gehlot over…

When West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari are in the assembly, both are said to hold court with the journalists in attendance. In addition to the outreach and indulgence, the two friends-turned-foes also compete with each other in showering gifts on media persons. If Mamata distributes cakes and pastries from the best confectioner in town, Adhikari offers an assortment from another equally well-known patisserie. Imported chocolate brands, wallets and deodorants are also being gifted. And what could the leaders possibly be expecting in return? Just some good press.…

THE TOSHAKHANA CASE Imran Khan is charged with taking gifts from the Toshakhana—which stores gifts received by public officials—at high discounts and selling them off for hefty profits that he did never declared in tax returns. Cornered by a case filed against him by the PML(N) regime in Aug. ’22, Khan admitted to selling some items, including a Graff watch gifted to him by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, in a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The total worth of the gifts, including Rolex watches and jewellery, was Rs 154 million (PKR). The ECP, accusing him of making false declarations, barred him from office for five years under Article 63(1) (p) of the Constitution. Khan petitioned against this in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), where it…

The West Bengal chief minister has always worked for the cause of women and relied on them in politics. Now, two of the most accomplished women in her cabinet, Chandrima Bhattacharya and Shashi Panja, are given charge of the crucial finance and industry portfolios respectively This year, like every other year, International Women’s Day on March 8 was marked by solemn declarations of women’s rights and gender equality, celebration of the socio-political and cultural achievements of women, and recognition of the barriers to be overcome still. It was also blithely used by commercial establishments to peddle their fare. But in India, women still constitute only 15 per cent of the 545 MPs in the Lok Sabha; in the Rajya Sabha, they are 14 per cent. Lawmakers continue to be indifferent…

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↘ Founded in 1983, SVB benefited from low interest rates in the US following the 2008 financial crisis ↘ Just before its collapse, SVB held assets worth $209 billion (Rs 17 lakh crore) and deposits of $175 billion (Rs 14.3 lakh crore) ↘ The start-up exuberance during the pandemic too helped the bank gain big deposits. SVB invested the proceeds in long-term treasury bonds ↘ As interest rates in the US rose to 4.75 per cent, the value of bonds held by SVB collapsed. Meanwhile, depositors started withdrawing heavily, creating an asset-liability mismatch ↘ When the bank tried to sell $21 billion (Rs 1.7 lakh crore) worth of available-for-sale securities, it incurred a loss of $1.8 billion (Rs 14,803 crore) ↘ With the bank’s finances under strain, Moody’s downgraded SVB’s…

Maharashtra leader of the Opposition Ajit Pawar was giving mediapersons a few sound bites after the presentation of the budget in the assembly when his former boss Uddhav Thackeray walked into the press stands on the assembly premises. Pawar made way for Uddhav to face the media’s booms, but gave a sly wink to someone standing on the side, the action captured on camera. CM Eknath Shinde and his band of rebels, who have long alleged that Pawar was giving Uddhav the short shrift, could well be saying: “We told you so.”…

We have never defaulted in the past and we won’t default now,” asserted Pakistan’s federal minister for finance Ishaq Dar on March 3, looking irritated at the persistent questions journalists were lobbing at him at a press conference. His irritation stemmed from ongoing speculation about the country’s crisis-wracked economy; the latest blow dealt by credit ratings agency Moody’s, which had downgraded Pakistan’s sovereign rating to Caa3, signifying “increasingly fragile liquidity and external position” and a raised risk of default. Dar painted an optimistic picture at the press conference, trying to assure those assembled that a long-pending staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was just round the corner, that bilateral funds would soon be flowing in to shore up the dangerously low foreign exchange reserves and that he had…

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleges that KCR’s daughter K. Kavitha and two others funneled money via hawala channels to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi to seal the South Group deal and get benefits from the state’s new liquor policy. It also alleges that 30 per cent of Delhi’s retail liquor business was controlled by the South Group, a cartel steered by them. WhatsApp chats between Kavitha’s ex-auditor Gorantla Butchibabu, now out on bail, and other accused have multiple mentions of ‘Madam’ which, according to the ED, refers to Kavitha. In a February 23 statement, he told the ED that Rs 100 crore was funnelled through hawala as part of the deal with AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair. Kavitha, who met Nair multiple times in Delhi and Hyderabad in…

MAMATA BANERJEE Chief Minister, Home & Hill Affairs, Health, Land & Land Reforms, Info & Culture, Planning & Stats, Personnel & Admin Reforms CHANDRIMA BHATTACHARYA MoS Finance, MoS Health, Land & Land Reforms, Programme Monitoring DR SHASHI PANJA Industry & Commerce, Public Enterprise and Industrial Reconstruction, Women and Child Devt & Social Welfare BIRBAHA HANSDA Self Help (Ind. charge), MoS Forests SANDHYARANI TUDU Paschimanchal Devt (Ind. charge), MoS Parliamentary Affairs SABINA YEASMIN MoS Irrigation and Waterways, North Bengal Development JYOTSNA MANDI MoS Food and Supplies SHEULI SAHA MoS Panchayat and Rural Development Department…

The Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872–1944), one of the great innovators of 20th-century abstract art, kept refining his style up until his last active years. Decade by decade, you can see the evolution from his early, figurative paintings to increasingly rarefied levels of abstraction until we reach 1940s works like ‘Broadway Boogie Woogie’, Mondrian’s breathtaking, vertiginous response to New York’s skyline. A new retrospective, Into the Half Light & Shadow Go I, offers a similar journey covering the stylistic evolution of 84-year-old Jogen Chowdhury, one of India’s pre-eminent artists. The show has been curated by Jesal Thacker and Soumik Nandy Majumdar and presented by Kolkata’s Gallery Art Exposure. Like Mondrian, Chowdhury moved gradually towards a higher degree of abstraction after being exposed to the methods of Picasso. But his work—dominated…

A REVIEW OF THREE RECENT BOOKS ON the Himalaya earlier this month opened with the provocation: ‘Whose Himalaya is it?’ Surveying writing on the Himalaya from the earliest colonial encounters to the present day, Amish Raj Mulmi (Himal Southasian, March 1, 2023) found that “indigenous modes of seeing are rarely found in contemporary Western popular writing about the Himalaya”. The massif and its inhabitants have been variously exoticised, marginalised, and vilified. An anthology like Mystics and Sceptics: In Search of Himalayan Masters offers the necessary corrective to these ‘ways of seeing’ by foregrounding the lived spiritual experience of Himalayan people, their relationships to the natural and supernatural worlds, and to each other. A child of the central Himalaya herself, editor Namita Gokhale’s upbringing among the “spiritualists… [of] divine understanding, intuitive…